I have a new FTdx5000D radio and I'm currently using the hand mic that came with the rig. I plan on getting a new desk mic but first I'd like to get some recommendations as to what mic and element would be well suited to the FT5k. I operate SSB almost exclusively with both, general rag-chewing and DX. Until now I've had all Kenwood equip. and used the MC60 mic with excellent audio reports. The FT5k is my first Yaesu experience. Thanks for your help.

There is no universal one mic does well with all because of difference in voice and rigs. I have always been fond of Heil HC-5 cartridge and used it for many years with a few different rigs with good results.

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--------------------------------------Ham since 1969.... Old School 20wpm REAL Extra Class..

It doesn't work well for me at all (have four of them, over the years) in a "desk mike," but I do use them in headsets where the mike is 1/4" from my lips and cannot move from that.

For a "microphone," it's hard to beat the Heil PR40, and that's all I use for non-headset applications. Mine are installed in booms that are bolted to the back end of the operating desks, with the cables running through the booms so you don't see any of that.

The PR40 sounds incredible with the FTDX5000. It doesn't pick up noise or vibration, and has an enormous F/B ratio (great rejection to the rear, and actually even to the sides) so if you use it "in front of" an amplifier that has a noisy cooling system, the mike doesn't pick any of that up at all.

I don't care for desk mikes as they can pick up vibration from the desk, they're usually installed in stands that are way too short so I have to lean over to talk into them, and they occupy desk space I'd rather use for other things. But each to his own on that.

If you have a desk with nothing else on it at all, it's not a bid deal. If you watch David Letterman on his TV show, his desk normally has nothing on it but a microphone, and that microphone is a PR40.

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